If you missed it, Joost, the latest venture of the founders of Kazaa and Skype launched earlier this week. I decided to sign-up and learn how a brand might be able to benefit from this new peer-2-peer television service.

I love it!

As a consumer I have to say that Joost immediately got me hooked. I found it easy to use, easy to find content on channels and most importantly, the quality was better than I expected. They even have an option to create your own channel by dragging programs to your bar at the bottom, making it even easier to find your content when you return for a later session.

It is important to understand what kind of consumer I am because not everyone is going to like Joost. I watch more television using Comcast OnDemand and my built-in DVR than regular television. I am the person who records the BBC news in the morning and then starts watching half-way into it so I can skip through the ads I hate.

Joost hooked me because of two things:

(1) I had caught the CNN special on ‘God’s Muslim Warriors’ but I missed the ‘Christian Warriors’ and ‘Jewish Warriors’. They were all readily available on  CNN’s Joost channel.

(2) There were two channels that most Gen-X and Millenials would love - a Transformers channel and a G.I. Joe channel! I grew up watching these and have both the original Transformers animated movie on DVD (the special edition no less) and the first season of G.I. Joe on DVD.

This channel is sure to be a major benefit for Hasbro and the brands. To be able to watch the first episodes of these with great quality and for free is simply a dream come true for many people.

Most brands however are not as fortunate as Hasbro. I do believe that Joost provides an opportunity to engage the most connected in the population. I have noticed some little buttons popping up in the corner of the screen promoting EA Sports and they are clickable.

That is an option but also, outright sponsorship of a show on a channel will be possible. There are channels to fit every lifestyle. If you want to reach people interested in cars, there is a channel and you could do one of the following:

(1) Go through Joost or the channel to have a short pre-roll spot “presenting” the show

(2) Directly contact the show producers and pay for product placement

I favor product placement big time but both can be effective. Prom Queen has a pre-roll slide for the presenting sponsor and I expect more marketers to “adopt” programs.

Sign-up for Joost and let me know your opinion as a consumer and as a marketer.

Filed under: Marketing Trends, Technology